1977 vintage smith woodhouse port

[rpeacegood]

Hi all,

I have a bottle of this that I'm interested in selling. I'm based in the UK, Its been stored on its side in the dark, the label is a bit dusty. I can send photos if someone is interested.

I'm not sure about keeping it to drink because I think I don't really like port so much, but If I wasn't to sell it, when should it be drunk? Is there a year when it will be say past its best?

Thanks everyone.

[LGTrotter]

Good year, good port in my opinion. I doubt you will retire on the proceeds of the sale, but Christmas is coming (according to the supermarkets) so drink up, you might even change your mind about port. It should keep for a while yet though.

[Glenn E.]

A 1977 Smith Woodhouse has decades of life left, so I don't think you need to worry about holding onto it for too long. Personally, I'd probably drink it on its 50th birthday in 2027 if you haven't done something else with it by then.

As far as selling it goes, it's worth about $90 on the internet from reputable firms. Our general rule of thumb is that you should expect to get about half of that from a private sale, so perhaps $45 or $50. It really probably isn't worth the effort to sell, so since you don't think you like Port perhaps you have a friend who does to whom you could give the bottle as a gift? Christmas is not too far off.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Glenn has made a great suggestion. This is a really nice bottle of port which - if kept in a cool and dark place - will last for many years yet. The Smith Woodhouse 1977 is one of our favourites and is a long way from being past its best. This would be a fabulous present for someone who is a port or wine lover.

But the best thing you can do with vintage port is to find a friend or two who likes wines and then share it with them. An evening with a bottle of port and a couple of friends is usually relaxed and enjoyable.

[jdaw1]

I agree with all the above. For the sake of comparison, below is our Standard advice to would-be vendors.

Standard advice to would-be vendors

Some new members of ThePortForum.com join because they have a bottle, or some bottles, for sale. So we have jointly composed this standard advice, that covers the most frequently-seen situations. Of course, some more specific advice might follow after.

First, hello and welcome. We welcome such visitors, from the likes of whom we have bought bottles and cases in the past.

Second is less good. Your bottles are unlikely to be worth a lot. Selling at auction, through one of the big auction houses, is likely to net you about half the retail price. (Auction prices are less than retail which is why wine merchants buy at auction, and there is the seller’s commission and transport costs.) Selling to a wine merchant is likely to net you about the same, half retail. As a guide, a good shipper, from a good year, four or so decades old, of good provenance, might be as much as £100 a bottle. So this will not pay for a car or a holiday: sorry.

So our usual advice is not to sell.

If you were given these bottles as a christening present, we advise that you hold them. When you are thirty or forty years old it will give you great please to open these bottles with friends bottles you will have owned since you were a toddler. (Recall Alan Clark on Heseltine: ‟he had to buy all his furniture”. Your friends will have had to buy their own wine; yours came to you as a child.) Selling will net you small money; holding and drinking later can give you great pleasure.

If you are the father of the vendor, a teenager with non-vinous uses for money, then you are probably the best purchaser. Buy, and share with your offspring when they are old enough to regret having sold.

But if, despite all this, you still want to sell, then we might be the best purchaser. Please describe what you have, and post a picture of the bottle or of the unopened case. When did you acquire it, and where has it been stored? And where is it now located: which country (UK? USA? Other), and approximately where within that?